On the Coding Ede: Quest For Glory V: Dragon Fire
Quest For Glory 5 Dragon Fire www.sierra.com/qg5 In Silmaria, even stopping in the loca drink can lead to fierce hand-to-hand It seems every time we open up the InterAction mailbox there are hundreds of letters asking about Quest for Glory 5: Dragon Fire. I can understand; Quest for Glory has traditionally been one of Sierra's most popular series— but so many letters? Lots of Sierra's games are cool, but there is something special about the Quest series— something almost cultish. I decided the best way to answer everyone's questions was to go down to Sierra Oakhurst and talk directly with Lori Cole and Terry Robinson, the designers charged with breathing life into the latest adventure in the Quest series ...QFG5: Dragon Fire. I was greeted at Sierra Oakhurst with a look that's common among all developers when they see a reporter holding a notebook— a look that screams -Don't Give Away Our Secrets! It's Too Soon!" At the risk of doing just that, here are just some of the fascinat ing things I found.... First of all. Dragon Fire, slated for release later this year, is being created primarily because so many people have been ask ing for it. "The biggest reason this game is being made is because of the demand of our fans," explains Lori. "It's like coming to the final book in a popular book series, so it has to be more rich and more chal lenging than ever before— we've got our work cut out for us." Harkening to the demands of their fans, the Dragon Fire website is an online game design forum. Fans of the Quest series now can share what they'd like to see in the series' latest (and probably final) game. You also get timely updates directly from the development team. Update features include sketches of characters and puzzles, message boards for fans to share ideas with the team, and an online newsletter providing up-to-the minute details about how Dragon Fire is progressing. Dragon Fire will be very different from the other "books" in the series because of two new technologies that will make the look and feel of this game more fluid and ultimately more realistic. The game will feature an unprecedented 3D panoramic world with multi-plane scrolling kscenes, thanks to a "highly secret" graphics display engine. The engine employs strategic multiple camera placement and dynamic scrolling. Also featured will be 3D characters ipdered using a »w technology called "voxels" or "volume pixels." All you really need to know about voxels is that they will nterAction Magazine Spring 1997 make the characters' movements smoother and more natural than you could ever imagine. "The time is right for this game because of the new technology that's available," says Terry, art director and co-designer. "We can take this game— this entire series -to new levels." Dragon Fire doesn't easily fit into any one game genre. It's a cross-genre game in many ways. In its soul, this is a fantasy role-playing game. The point of the game is to give players as much freedom as possible. At the onset, you'll be -^ able to create your character any way you like. Throughout the game, your character will evolve any way you want, depend ing on who you ally with and who you choose to fight. Dragon Fire is also very much an action combat game. Success in hand-to-hand combat is determined by the type of character you are and the kind of character you're fighting against. Engaging in combat as a thief is very different from battling as a magic user or a fighter. Those char acters have very differ ent abilities and limita tions. One of the new features in Dragon Fire is multiplay er capabili ties. Now you can go on a quest with friends whose char acters all have all dif ferent skills and abili ties. Again, the point of the game is to offer players freedom. "You always get the freedom to be what you want to be,** explains Lori. ** You can be a fighter, a magic user, a thief, or some combination of the three. That makes for unlim ited replayability because success solving different puzzles depends on the skills you have. Those skills will vary— making for a very different game every time you play." What I found out about Dragon Fire was very refreshing. Yeah, there are plenty of cool new features which use the latest technologies. And yeah, they'll guarantee this is the coolest looking title in the Quest series. But how do you ensure the legions of fans will get exactly what they want from the game? You do exactly what the Dragon Fire development team is doing. You ask for user input and keep fans informed throughout the development process. But most importantly, you make sure to keep the biggest and best surprises to yourself. When Quest for Glory 5: Dragon Fire releases later this year.. .no one's going to be disappointed. • Scheduled for release: Fall 1997 Category:Articles